You want followers, people to comment and interact with your social media images, but you’re not sure how to make it happen. Right? Good news – today, you’re going to learn. Let’s go over the must haves for a social media visual content strategy.

There are a lot of articles on Pinterest and the web about “strategy” – and almost all of them have bloggers discussing strategy who don’t even know what strategy really is. They often confuse strategy with tactics, objectives and goals. Goals are not strategy. Neither are the daily action tasks (tactics) you do to achieve your goals.

[bctt tweet=”Strategy is the how.” username=”legendkerrie”]

Strategy is the how.

It’s the approach you take to compete on the marketplace to absorb more customers and followers in order to achieve the objectives.

The objective, in a lot your cases, is to build more followers, right? The goal may be to reach a certain number of followers – like 10,000 Instagram followers, for example.

The tactic to achieve the goal is to be active on Instagram, Pinterest, wherever, to comment, to follow, to like/save, and monitor progress.

The strategy, again is the how. So if you see articles saying “do this and then do that” they’re actually talking about tactics and action items. Not strategy. (Which also means, they probably really don’t know what they’re talking about and don’t have a strategy, because they can’t even define one.) But now you’re wiser and you’ve been informed.

So let’s talk about the how and what you’ll need for a solid visual content strategy. If your strategy is to convince followers that you’re an account they want to follow, then how will you do that? Here’s a solid example – and it’s derived from my previous post on becoming a successful blogger by creating a social media strategy. 1) By competing online on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or even your blog. 2) By bringing unique value to your followers. 3) By using the resources you currently possess and capabilities you have – your talent! 4) By sustaining the growth and follower count with consistent quality and attendance online.

There’s your strategy, in a nutshell. Notice they are not goals. Nor tactics.

So here’s what you need to support your visual content strategy:

1. A consistent approach to your online accounts – branding, logo, memorable images. How will you do things differently online to make you stand apart from the rest of the pack?
2. A consistent approach to use of color and times of posting. How will you ensure that you are posting around the clock and staying consistent with your brand?
3. Provide engaging, fun interactives to support post engagement. Contests, quotes, quizzes, etc. work well in these arenas. How will you create posts that are fun and provide click-throughs?
4. Constant posting schedule. How will you decide when to post and using what platform? Will you be using a scheduler?
5. Several free downloads and printables that people will crave. How will you make these attractive and must-have?
6. Drive the account with the consumer in mind and not myself. I will only post things that are relevant to my audience and not focused on me.

It all starts with great graphics and a topic. If you have those two things, you’ll be able to create shoot-offs for just about every social media channel, your blog, and develop giveaways from your blog to score an amazing amount of followers. Don’t just post. Post with a strategy in mind.

Ask yourself before your post:

1. Is this graphic consistent with my brand?
2. Is this engaging or will it lead to comments?
3. Am I posting this more for myself or more for my audience?
4. Can I put a freebie along with this or some sort of giveaway?
5. Is my post unique and not like everyone else’s?
6. Am I covering all my media channels?
7. Am I creating a sustaining value-add or just creating more noise?

I want to go back to strategy a little bit: convince followers that you’re an account they want to follow.

It’s easy to convince people to follow you if you’re giving more than receiving. If you’re posting more for them and not so much for you. If you’re posting pleasing images that are either inspirational or give them what they’re craving (entertainment and a means to make money are two of the top cravings). If you’re staying frequent but not annoying.

Adhere to these concepts and guidelines and you’ll be successful, no doubt. The hard part is implementing. This is often the point where people get overwhelmed, and think, I don’t do all that. But you CAN! You can do this! Look at all the top bloggers in your category and watch what they’re doing. Figure out a unique approach so that you’re not copying. You’ll figure it out, I promise. Just spend a solid day doing some research and you’ll find your path.

What questions do you have for me about strategy? Want to chat about it if you can’t figure out what yours is, exactly? Can’t seem to put it into words? Comment below and I’ll help you out. For free.